Demolition of former leisure centre approved

Work to demolish the former Dudley Leisure Centre on Wellington Road looks set to get under way next month.

Dudley Council planners have given permission for the work to start on clearing the 5.7 acre site which is expected to be developed for housing.

A number of trees on the site are subject to tree protection orders and work will not be able to begin until measures have been put in place to ensure they are identified and not damaged.

The leisure centre dates back to the 1970s, it closed to the public in 2022 and was replaced by the Duncan Edwards Centre on Constitution Hill.

A report from Dudley Council planners on an application to begin demolition said: “There is nothing to suggest from the historic environment record or from undertaking a previous site visit that there are any buildings within the site which have any significant historic environment value.”

Demolition work is expected to take around three months to complete including safe removal of asbestos sheets.

Metal frameworks from the buildings will be recycled and brick and block work will be broken up and crushed to be used as hardcore on the site and to backfill the former centre’s swimming pools.

Council leaders hope the site will be used for housing however in the demolition application, Halesowen-based Revelan Developments Ltd say there are currently no plans for redevelopment of the site.

A previous £1.6m deal to sell the site to a Stourbridge-based Wellington DLC Ltd, who promised to invest £25m in building 150 homes on the site, collapsed in summer 2024.

The council pulled out saying while a deal had been agreed in principle no legally binding commitments had been made.

A report on the collapsed deal by the council’s external auditors Grant Thornton is expected to be presented to the next meeting of the authority’s Audit Committee.

By Martyn Smith | Local Democracy Reporting Service